Tuesday, May 26, 2015

It was a play day in the studio (aren't they all? I just mean I had no specific agenda or to-do), so I did a quick search of some of my favorite challenges, and landed on Jen Shults's Deconstructed Sketch #201, which looks like this:

I started with a large green frame that I die-cut using the largest two nested squares in the Shakers 'n Frames Confetti Cuts die set. Behind that I layered a text print pattern and some vellum.

In the bottom right corner of the frame, I added some different elements: two pieces of stamped fruit using images from Fresh 'N Fruity, two flags die-cut with the Stitched Flag Trio Confetti Cuts die set, and a Fancy Words die-cut sentiment.

For the background panel, I spritzed three different colors of mist and/or paint (green, gold and pink), then used an air tool with a black marker to add some faint black speckle.

Honest question for you:

I had fun making this. I wanted to get a little artsy and messy with the splattered background and the distressed and folded edges. I like how everything turned out, BUT, this isn't a card I would give to just anyone. I think sometimes we (meaning us crafty types) like trends/products/styles that might leave our non-crafty friends scratching their heads. This happened to me once as a SU demo. I had demo'd a vintage card with distressed and sponged edges. When I was finished, one of my customers confessed that she thought my sample card was dirty and kind of beaten up, until she watched me do all that stuff on purpose. (And she never did understand why in the world I would want to make something look aged.) So, with this card, I can totally imagine a non-crafty person (and maybe some crafty types, too!) wondering why the background is all splattered and the corners are all bent, you know?

Back to my question: Do you try to match your card (not just the sentiment, but the overall style, too) to the recipient? Or do you give something you like, on the theory that your art is your gift, and if they "get" it, great, but if they don't, that's okay too? Or neither - it's the thought that counts, and the card itself is secondary?

I used to sell cards in a coffee shop through my dear friend June Houck of Simply Elegant Paper Crafts. She still sells her cards, and we were talking the other day about which cards sell and which ones don't. One of June's observations that really stood out was that the coffee shop customers are very literal. A card with balloons and the word "celebrate" may not sell, but anything with the traditional "happy birthday" sentiment will sell. Isn't that interesting? I'd bet pretty much anything this card wouldn't sell - LOL!

[Why is there fruit on a thank-you card? Is that supposed to be a lemon - it's kind of orange-y? What about those words on the text print? What do a camera, fresh air and the word bloom have to do with thanks or with fruit? What's up with that background? Did she run out of clean paper? Four dollars? For this?]

Friday, May 22, 2015

Just an extra card I made last month with Papertrey Ink's April release goodies. This Pencil Me In stamp set, with companion Pencil Me In dies, designed by Lexi Daly, is just so cute! For that top perforated spiral notebook border, I used the Moments Inked: Edged dies.

I think I'll tuck this card in my daughter's lunch box next week on the day she takes the math SOL. It will be a happy day because by lunch time, the test will be over.

It's Confetti Camera day over on the Reverse Confetti blog! Confetti Camera is the weekly segment that features one of the Confetti Crew designers, along with an exclusive, themed project created just for this feature. Our theme this round is Everything Old Is New Again.

Monday, May 18, 2015

Hello friends! It's been a while since I shared ideas for Papertrey's Moments Inked Planner, so I'm excited today to show you a garden journal that I created for my planner. I don't need an elaborate system, just a place to record some basic garden notes.

The divider page has pockets on both the front and back that I created using the Moments Inked: Pocket Page die. The front side side holds my gardening to-do list and a gardening shopping list.

For the lists, I cut down some Fresh Snow Linen Cardstock and stamped the lines and titles using stamps from the Moments Inked: Listed set. I almost stamped the first list with the "Chores" title, but that makes it all sound too much like work! This pocket also will be a good place to stick garden center receipts and other bits and pieces.

Of course I decorated the pocket area. I love the Audrey Hepburn quote from Garden Grace and even though I'll be using this journal section for my vegetable gardens, I couldn't resist the beautiful florals that are also part of the Garden Grace stamp set.

The back pocket holds some grid paper, which I'll use to map out my raised bed plantings (when I actually plant something!). That will be happening this week -- I'm in a May 15 planting zone, so it's well past time!

Next, I created some simple monthly pages where I can record notes about plantings, weather, watering schedule, pests, date of first harvest, and anything else I think might be useful.

I love that if I run out of room, I can easily add in smaller Basic Pages as inserts between the months, and I can also easily create additional pages for more detailed tracking and recording. I'm pretty confident this will meet my limited needs, though!

Before I go, just a quick visual on the double pocket page. I started by scoring a piece of Harvest Gold Polka Dot patterned paper at 5 1/2" and folding in half:

I placed the folded patterned paper onto the full-page die so that the folded edge was just inside the cutting line of the die. That way my fold stayed intact, I didn't have to worry about lining up two different die-cuts, and I have pattern on both sides.

After running that through my die-cutting machine, all I had to do was run some adhesive around the perimeter and seal it up. I die-cut the pockets out of a different Harvest Gold pattern and adhered them to the full-size page on the left, right, and bottom using red line tape. Remember to die-cut the back pocket with your paper pattern-side down so that the spiral edge ends up on the correct side.